23:1 Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight
against Keilah, and they rob the threshing-floors.
23:2 Therefore David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go
and smite these Philistines? And the LORD said to David, Go,
and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.
23:3 And David's men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in
Judah: how much more then if we come to Keilah against the
armies of the Philistines?
23:4 Then David inquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD
answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will
deliver the Philistines into thy hand.
23:5 So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the
Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them with
a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
23:6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech
fled to David to Keilah, [that] he came down [with] an ephod in
his hand.
23:7 And it was told to Saul that David had come to Keilah. And
Saul said, God hath delivered him into my hand; for he is shut
in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.
23:8 And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down
to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.
23:9 And David knew that Saul secretly plotted mischief against
him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the
ephod.
23:10 Then said David, O LORD God of Israel, thy servant hath
certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy
the city for my sake.
23:11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will
Saul come down as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel,
I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the LORD said, He will
come down.
23:12 Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my
men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver
[thee] up.
23:13 Then David and his men [who were] about six hundred, arose
and departed from Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go.
And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah: and he
forbore to go forth.
23:14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and
remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul
sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
23:15 And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life: and
David [was] in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.
23:16 And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the
wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
23:17 And he said to him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my
father shall not find thee; and thou wilt be king over Israel,
and I shall be next to thee; and that also Saul my father
knoweth.
23:18 And they two made a covenant before the LORD: and David
abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
23:19 Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth
not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in
the hill of Hachilah, which [is] on the south of Jeshimon?
23:20 Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the
desire of thy soul to come down; and our part [shall be] to
deliver him into the king's hand.
23:21 And Saul said, Blessed [be] ye of the LORD; for ye have
compassion on me.
23:22 Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know, and see his place
where his haunt is, [and] who hath seen him there: for it is
told to me [that] he dealeth very subtilly.
23:23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the
lurking-places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me
with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come
to pass, if he is in the land, that I will search him out
throughout all the thousands of Judah.
23:24 And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David
and his men [were] in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on
the south of Jeshimon.
23:25 Saul also and his men went to seek [him]. And they told
David: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the
wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard [that], he pursued
after David in the wilderness of Maon.
23:26 And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and
his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to
get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David
and his men around to take them.
23:27 But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Haste thee,
and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.
23:28 Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and
went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place
Sela-hammah-lekoth.
23:29 Then David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds
at En-gedi.
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